


The Thing About Bill Cipher

by Secretsoftie



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Bill Cipher learns a lesson, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, bill cipher has emotions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:53:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28756926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Secretsoftie/pseuds/Secretsoftie
Summary: Sometimes, quiet is violent.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

He'd never expected it to end like this.

Burning flames surrounding him, the colour his own but out of his control. Beaten by a man who he had seen coming, but underestimated in a most fatal way.

How did it end up like this, his form frozen and forgotten, hidden away in the dark parts of a clearing, trees barricading him in? Light rarely reached him, and his screams never reached anyone. How could his plans have gone so horribly wrong, when he bet on the selfishness of an old man.

He learnt shortly that ranting and raving would not change his circumstances, and that no one would listen, even if they could hear him. Time seemed to move so slowly for him, his voice growing quieter and smaller. His only companions being the animals of the forest, and the few creatures that remembered him. Although, they did not remember him fondly. Many jeered and laughed at him as he sat helpless, unable to fight back, unable to torment them the way he thought they deserved.

He did not know how much time was passing, nor did he bother to count the days. He knew that this was his eternity, his afterlife, and that there would be no escaping it. There was no one that would want to help him, no one that would lend a hand. He was on his own.

He knew it was his own fault.

That didn't help his situation.

He found that he hated snow, that it was far too cold and not as pretty as you'd expect. He could see that the creatures of the forest hated it as well, but perhaps for different reasons. It stopped them coming to visit him, at least, and while that was relieving, he found himself lonely. The lack of mocking was a welcomed change, but he had not been alone in so long. After constantly surrounding himself with minions or pets or things, this sudden quiet, this sudden nothingness echoing back at him from the snow laden forest was deafening.

He never knew that snow could last so long. It was a novelty for him, a thing he had seen in passing but never experienced first hand, and it proved to be something full of torment, even though it granted him a reprieve from other torments. The snow kept his visitors at bay for what, to him, seemed like a million years. At most the snow only lasted for five months, but it always returned, and with it came that deafening silence. In the distance, sometimes, he would hear screams, laughter and yelling. He learnt that there was a difference between screams of terror, and screams of joy and fun. Sometimes he would laugh along with them, his voice small and fragile as he desperately wished for the source of the noises to come closer, just a bit closer, so he could watch them, so maybe they could hear him.

The noises never got any closer, only further away.

He himself began to feel farther away, as well, his attention growing shorter and his focus disappearing. He did not hear much, or see much, his senses growing duller. His memories followed, fading and fading until he could barely remember his own name, let alone the names of the beings he had known. He grew numb and full, vines and grass creeping up over his still form and hiding him deeper in the shadows, the light stopping it's attempts to reach him. He thought he missed it's warmth, but he wasn't sure. He wasn't sure of very much anymore, except that he deserved this.

Sometimes he would cry. Soundless sobs that only he could hear, echoing inside him and never finding an escape. Crying never seemed to help, but it was the only thing he could do some days. He could not express emotions in other ways, as yelling would not work, screaming would not be heard, and talking was just as difficult. What was the point in talking, in using a silver tongue, if there was no one to hear him speak? He had been muzzled and chained down, and he could do nothing but endure.

He had often screamed about the unfairness of his sentence, about how this wasn't a justifiable punishment for his actions, and deep down he knew he was wrong, but his pride wouldn't let him say anything to contradict himself. He was great, and he was mighty, and this would not hold him back for long. Sometimes he would spend days, even weeks, trying to use his diminished abilities, but to no avail. Everything he tried, everything he did, none of it ever had an effect. He was truly stuck, and he could do nothing about it.

It took five years of this, of constant cycles to pretend that this was okay, that he could survive this, that he deserved it, that he didn't deserve it, that he could break free - but it took five years for him to admit that he was wrong, that he wasn't getting out of this. He cried hardest on that night, the realisation swallowing him as he crumbled like fragile stones.

"I brought this on myself. I only have myself to blame." A mantra of his own creation, an admittance of a guilt he didn't know he could feel, an acceptance of what consequences his actions had wrought. He let himself fall into quietness, his fury drenched and drowned by his sorrow.

He called out once more, his voice reaching only one, "My name is Bill Cipher, and I'm sorry for what I've done."

An earth shattering crack filled his clearing, and a light brighter than he had seen before blinded him. A gentle voice trickled into his mind, soothing him into sleep, a state of being he hadn't once tried, but one he found comforting. He blinked his eye against the light once more, the final sight he saw being that of an axolotl outlined by the light.

"Your name is Bill Cipher, and I have heard you."


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to my partner, and to the user dropout_ninja. Thank you for the support.

Walking was… interesting, to say the least. When he had access to all of his powers he chose to float everywhere. One, because it was an excellent display of his control over his abilities, and two, because walking was such a chore, but now, without access to his powers, he was forced to walk.

He wasn't impressed.

It was made worse by the fact that he was both unused to the form he was in, as well it being the middle of the night, and thus pitch black. He had thought humans had better eyesight than that, but apparently his omnipotence didn't extend to knowledge about human eyesight. Of course, he does know of a few humans that need glasses, so maybe the fact that humans have terrible eyesight was pretty darn clear.

A stray root, that seemed to have it out for him, brought his wobbly body quickly to the ground, his arms flailing as he failed to catch himself. He hit his head hard as he landed on the ground, a groan escaping him. Slowly he sat up, feeling something wet drip down his face as he squinted at the darkness around him. He had no idea where he was going, or what direction he should be walking in, but he just knew he had to keep moving. He couldn't let others see him in such a weak form, couldn't let them realise that he was unable to fight back to the degree that others fear. He could very easily be teamed up on, and he wasn't stupid enough to stick around and wait for it to happen.

That is if anyone actually recognised him, of course.

For him it seemed like he was wandering for eternity, the darkness never fading, the light never peaking over the horizon or through the thick trees. In reality, he had only been walking for a couple of hours at most. He continued onwards, pushing forward, and pushing his new form. Unfortunately, as he was new to being human, he could not understand the signals his body was sending him, the signs that he was pushing himself too hard and too far, the signs that his body would collapse on him if he did not be more careful. He knew that sleep was necessary, but everything else? Surely humans could survive without it. Right?

He eventually saw a light shining through the darkness, beckoning him towards it. It was the first light he had seen since the one that seemed to pour out of the Axolotls every pore. If he was lucky the light would be the sun, and he would be able to find his way into town where he could figure out what he should be doing next, and if he was unlucky, it would be creatures that hated him and would do what they could to kill him. Of course, he didn't think he could die, even in his human form.

He had been given some direction by the Axolotl, but he could not quite remember what had been said, and that was frustrating. Of course it was due to his exhaustion and his hunger, and while he knew that sleep is important, he didn't realise how much humans had to do in a day just to function.

He realised the light was coming from a house, one he recognised. A frustrated noise left his throat as his legs gave out beneath him, landing him on the ground yet again.

He landed much harder this time, his body giving up on pushing itself. He tried to stand, his arms shaking as he pushed himself up, but they too gave way. His vision started to turn black around the edges, the blackness slowly creeping over his vision. He could see the door to the house open, the light from the doorway being blocked by two figures. Two familiar figures. A noise reached his ears, but he could not understand it, it all just sounded like gibberish. He knew just about every language of this world, so why was he suddenly now unable to understand simple words? The gibberish noises continued, getting louder as the two figures made their way towards him. Slowly, at first, and then in a rush they reached his side. He could see frantic gestures exchanged between the two figures, noises being traded back and forth.

A hand reached out to him, causing him to flinch backwards and away from the hand. This seemed to be the final straw for his body, as his vision completely blacked out, falling unconscious quickly.

-

He could hear noises around him, sometimes. His vision never cleared, but the noises would always penetrate the darkness. The words were still a jumbled mess, a mix up of vowels and consonants. He didn't realise, but he had truly pushed his new form too far.

So, he slept. And he slept, and slept.

Until suddenly he didn't.

-

He sat up sharply, the world coming into focus as he looked around. He was on a bed, the blankets pooled around his waist and clean clothes covered his body. He could only remember seeing the light, and the two figures before his memories were just black.

The confusion of waking up in a new place was new to him, his head fuzzy and slow as he looked at his surroundings. This was a room he didn't recognise, which isn't surprising, considering he had never really gotten that far into this house before, so long as it was the house he thought it was, and if it was the house he thought it was, he was more than surprised to find out that he could actually make his way over the threshold. Hadn't they warded it against his entry? He wasn't sure, he felt like that was something they would have done.

Pulling his legs from underneath the blankets, he turned to the only door. There was a window on the opposite wall of the door, but he wasn't sure he could trust that to be a way out, so he decided that he would just try to make his way out of the house as quickly and quietly as possible. With his legs shaking as he put weight on them, he made his way to the door.

The door was unlocked, and the hallway it led to was deserted. He couldn't hear anything, so he hoped that meant no one was home. Why they would leave him alone in their home is beyond him, but he'll take the opportunity while it presents itself. Slowly he made his way down one end of the hallway, finding it led him to a dead end, a waste of time. He turned in a huff, making his way back down the hall. This would have been easier if he'd ever gotten into this house after the Argument, but Ford was, and is, too smart for that. He'd changed the layout of the house just to confuse him. Surely there was no other reason.

He turned a couple of corners, stumbled into the kitchen, found a closet that had linens in it, a cupboard with a vicious carnivorous plant, and a mess of other things. It took him a while to find the front door, but eventually he did. He paused for a moment, and took a breath. Now he doesn't have to worry about dealing with tweedle Dee and dum.

Except that, upon opening the front door, he found himself to be proven incredibly wrong.

"Seems our guest is awake, Stan!"


End file.
